been production problems with Rio ries, the number depending on Blanco. No additional stimulation availability of new drugs ready for tests have been planned. toxicology testing. The network will Meantime, government efforts on be able to test at least 10 drugs at a chemical fracturing technology ap- time for toxicity and side effects. pear more or less in limbo. GAO Both contracts are of the cost says that the Interior Department plus award-fee type, in which the spent about $380,000 on chemical actual fee awarded will depend on fracturing between fiscal years 1968 excellence of performance. The and 1973 before, in effect, abandon- Battelle contract, for example, ining efforts to private industry. cludes a two-year fee of $65,592 and Until fiscal 1974, no federal funds an award fee that could reach a had been spent on massive hydrau- total of $149,004 over the two-year lic fracturing. AEC and Interior's contract period. Bureau of Mines have more than $1.2 million that could be used for hydraulic fracturing development Of mice, man, and in fiscal 1974. And Interior has more than $1 million budgeted for this vinyl chloride technique in fiscal 1975. Mice—like rats and, in all likelihood, man—develop liver angiosarcomas from vinyl chloride exposure. ,, "Very preliminary work on mice NCI's cancer testing by Industrial Bio-Test Laboratomanagement shifted ries, Northbrook, 111., for the Manufacturing Chemists Association Two major prime contracts have "tends to confirm the findings" of been awarded by the National Can- Prof. Cesare Maltoni, the trade cer Institute as it shifts the man- group said last week. Prof. Malagement of more of its program to toni, of Istituto Di Oncologia, Bologna, Italy, found liver cancer outside contractors. Late last week, NCI awarded a in rats from vinyl chloride ex$6.6 million, 15-month contract to posure. After only seven months' expoTracor Jitco, Inc., to manage the NCI testing program to identify sure at levels of 2500 p.p.m., 200 cancer-causing chemicals and phys- p.p.m., and 50 p.p.m. vinyl chloical agents in the environment. ride in air, Bio-Test found angioEarlier in the week, a nearly $3.8 sarcomas in mice at all levels, but million, two-year contract went to not in rats or hamsters. Such tumor Battelle Memorial Institute's Co- development in mice is considered lumbus Laboratories for manage- to be fairly rapid. The lack of rat ment of NCI's toxicology program tumors so far is also consistent with for evaluating the safety and side Prof. Maltoni's data. The death toll of workers in the effects of potential new anticancer U.S. and abroad due to contact drugs. Through bioassay contracts with with the chemical, meanwhile, is 17 university and commercial labo- mounting. Firestone said last week ratories, NCI has studies under way that the death in 1969 of a worker on the effects of some 450 chemicals at its Pottstown, Pa., polyvinyl as well as ultraviolet radiation. Be- chloride plant "appears to have ginning May 1, Tracor Jitco, Rock- been related to angiosarcoma." ville, Md., will start assuming C&EN also has learned that Norprime responsibility for the con- way's Cancer Registry now contracts now in effect with commer- firms that a Norsk Hydro PVC cial laboratories at a rate of about worker died in 1971 from the liver one a month. As the NCI contracts cancer. And there are two suspectexpire the company will negotiate ed deaths from the disease among each of them as a subcontract. Al- Swedish workers. Confirmed and though NCI will retain scientific suspected cases of the cancer, at control of the program, Tracor this writing, total 16. Jitco will direct and monitor all asThe Occupational Safety and pects of the bioassays, including ex- Health Administration, meanwhile, perimental design, planning of re- has judged measures to control exsources (materials, animals, labora- posures to the carcinogen "inadetory facilities), conduct of studies, quate " at five vinyl chloride and data collection, and analysis and two PVC plants visited in the New presentation of results. Orleans-Baton Rouge, La., area in Under the other contract, Bat- a March 1974 survey report obtelle-Columbus, managing NCI's tained by C&EN. Without assotoxicology program from its office ciating firms with specific critiin McLean, Va., will establish a cisms, OSHA officials found a network of subcontracting laborato- "general lack of concern for em-
ployee health" and that actual exposures are generally unknown at the five plants. For these five plants "most safety rules are designed to prevent fires and prevent product loss." And for all plants OSHA finds that "preventative maintenance seems nonexistent."
Price decontrols may hike chemicals supply The lapsing of federal price controls probably will produce increased supplies of chemical products in the U.S. So says an overwhelming majority of members responding to a recent poll on the effects of price decontrol by the National Association of Chemical Distributors, a Dayton, Ohio-based organization of about 100 small, regional chemical distributors. The survey showed less unanimity on just when the chemical supply situation might improve, but the typical opinion was that it would be within about six months. One pessimistic respondent, however, believes that the recovery will take anywhere from two to five years, depending largely on the availability of construction materials, equipment, and capital. Almost all NACD members polled agree that the tendency for chemical users to barter and swap products in short supply has affected their business, with nearly half finding that the practice affects the market "very much." One distributor points out that it has distorted knowledge of consumption, for example. However, only two of the 35 respondents admit to having actually engaged in bartering. They agree unanimously, though, that legislation to prevent bartering and swapping of chemicals will be unnecessary after price controls expire. On the other hand, they are about equally divided on whether bartering will continue when controls end. By about 5 to 1, NACD members believe that more of the products they sell will remain in the U.S. once price controls are lifted. About half of those surveyed say that an average of 30% of the products they deal in have been diverted to higher-profit overseas markets, in amounts up to 80%. NACD members generally agree that over the long term (1975 and 1976), price decontrol will increase the availability of chemical materials and restore a balance in the market. They also think decontrol will result in increased production. April 22, 1974 C&EN
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